He'd walk 2 miles to his job at a Taco Bell. After work, he'd lug the extra weight home. He did that for weeks.
Landry lost the 40 pounds and became a soldier in October 2004.
"When he put on that uniform, it just transformed him. He became a different person -- a person who showed pride and confidence in what he did. And that's how he felt about the Army," said his father, Joseph.
Landry, 23, of Pensacola, Fla., was killed Sept. 18 by an explosion in Muqdadiyah. He was a 2002 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Lewis.
He worried that he might not make it to Iraq. "He got tired of the training," his father said. "He would call and say, 'I know we're ready to go.' That's where he wanted to be."
